AOE 3054 - Creating a plot suitable for a report.
Creating a plot suitable for a report for the first time in Excel involves
a number of steps, see below. Second time round you can shortcut the process,
see item 7.
1. Initial Plot
Load	Displacement in inches at z=5	Displacement in inches at z=15
5.2	1.12	2.52
10.3	2.08	4.87
15.7	2.97	7.63
19.9	3.88	10.21
Plot created by selecting above table and then choosing 'Chart' from the
'Insert Menu', selecting 'XY Scatter' and then choosing the default type
in which data are plotted as points.
Tip: Measured data should, in general be plotted as distinct points, with no lines, since it is the points that were actually measured. Lines should only be added if they represent something else, e.g. a regression fit, the result of a theoretical prediction.
2. Get rid of the colored background, and colored points
Tip: Color should be avoided unless absolutely necessary, as reports are almost always printed or copied in black and white. Colored backgrounds in particular detract from the clear presentation of the data.
Removing the colored background:
Right click on an empty part of the the plot area, select 'Format Plot Area',
change the border color to black, and select 'None' under area
Changing the points to black and white:
Right click on each set of points, select 'Format Data Series',
select the 'Patterns' tab. Under 'Line' make sure 'None' is selected.
Under 'Marker' select 'Custom', choose the symbol shape you want
under 'Style', then set the foreground color to black, the background
color to white, gray or black, and the size as you wish.
3. Fixing the grid lines
Tip: Grid lines should only be used if needed in which case they should be included for both axes, and shown in gray or as dashed lines so as not to be confused with axis lines, or annotations on the plot
Removing grid lines:
Right click on an empty area of the plot and select 'Chart Options'
select the 'Grid lines' tab and make sure all boxes are un-checked.
Fixing grid lines (not shown):
Right click on an empty area of the plot and select 'Chart Options'
select the 'Grid lines' tab and make both major gridlines boxes are
checked (and both minor gridlines boxes are unchecked) and press OK.
Then right click on each set of gridlines, select 'Format Gridlines' and
choose a broken and or gray line.
Tip: Axes should have proper scales and show major and minor divisions. A proper linear scale is one in which both major and minor divisions are in units of 1,2 or 5 x 10^n, where n is an integer. Tick marks should point outwards and  at least 5 major divisions should appear on each axis. If reasonable axes should cross at zero. If not reasonable a note should be made in the figure or axis title (e.g."note false origin on displacement axis") Tip: Axes titles should include the name and/or symbol of the plotted quantity and its unit, in a font consistent with the rest of the report.
4. Fixing the axes
Fixing axes
Right click on each axis and select 'Format Axis', and choose the 'Patterns'
tab. Select 'Outside' for major and minor tick mark type. Then press
the 'Scale' tab, check that the major and minor divisions obey the 1,2 or 5
rule above (most often with Excel they don't)
5. Adding suitable axes titles
Right click on an empty area of the plot, select 'Chart Options', select the
Titles' tab and enter the axes titles you want. Don't be tempted to add
a 'Chart Title' as Excel will put it in the wrong place. You can add that later
when you have pasted the chart into PowerPoint.
Click twice slowly on each axis title, so that you can edit the text. Select
the text and change to the report font (Times Roman in this case). Select any
Roman symbols and change to italics.
6. Fixing the legend and removing the box
Tip: The legend should appear within the axes, if possible without obscuring data. There should be no box drawn around graphs..
Fixing the legend
For this plot the title will be "Beam displacements at the two z locations
plotted versus applied load". The legend therefore only needs to include
the z locations. To change the legend text, right click on the data points
and select 'Source Data', press the 'Series' tab and select in turn, using
the list in the bottom left corner of the dialog box, the two data series. For
each series delete whatever appears in the 'Name=' box and replace it with
the text you actually want to appear in the legend for that case. Press OK.
Now drag the legend into the empty part of the plot where you want it.
Deleting the border
Right click on the area outside the plot and select 'Format Chart Area', choose
the 'Patterns' tab and select 'None' under 'Border'. You may also want
to select none under 'Area' so that the background to your plot is transparent
when you copy to PowerPoint.
7. Reducing the work next time
Once you have created a high quality plot, you can save the format to use next time.
To do this, right click on the plot and select, 'Chart Type', press the 'Custom Types'
tab and select 'User defined'. Then click the 'Add…' button and fill in a name and description.
Next time you want to create a plot of this type, select 'Chart' under the 'Insert' menu,
then select the 'Custom Types' tab, choose 'User defined' and select your plot.
You will probably need to recheck the scales, axes titles and legend.
8. Other enhancements
(a) Adding Error Bars
Tip: If estimates of the accuracy of the data are available and comparable in scale to the size of the quantity, the error magnitudes can be shown using error bars.
Right click on each set of data points, select 'Format Data Series' and then
press the 'X error bars' or 'Y error bars' as appropriate. Enter the appropriate
values (usually either under 'Fixed value' or 'Percentage'). The source of errors and how
the magnitudes were estimated must be described in the text of your
report.
(b) Making corrections or adding labels
Once you have copied your figure to PowerPoint you can use the drawing
tools to make any minor corrections or add labels. The picture here shows
the changing of a single error bar (made by manually drawing
over the plotted symbol), and the adding of an explanation.
Arrowed labels of this type can often be used to replace the legend.